Google has something of a track record in renewable energy-investments across the US and Europe, for example putting $75m in a wind farm in Iowa and $200m in another wind farm in Texas. Earlier this year, Google made its first renewable energies investment in Africa too, ploughing $12m into a 96 megawatt solar plant in South Africa.

For its latest foray, Google has partnered with investment firm KKR, and the projects combined will have a capacity of 106MW, generating enough power to cover 17,000 US homes. Google will invest around $80 million in these facilities.